Please Touch the Art

Please Touch the Art

“Please Touch the Art” will invite sighted and visually impaired visitors to go beyond looking at artwork and encourage them to use their sense of touch to experience each piece. Artists are encouraged to submit work that has interesting tactile features. The exhibit will address issues about the nature of aesthetic appreciation and perception of art. Is exhibiting art meant to be perceived through the sense of touch in conjunction with and/or instead of the sense of sight?

The Humanities Exhibit will cover the history of accessibility in arts programming providing historical context on how arts programming has evolved through the inclusion of objects, technology and supporting documentation.

Georgina Kleege will guest curate the exhibition and will lead a panel discussion that includes artists, as well as art and accessibility experts. The audience will be invited to participate in the discussion. Periodic guided tours of the exhibit will be offered.

The exhibit will take place indoors in our galleries and outdoors on the Arsenal on the Charles campus. We are able to accommodate small to very large-scale art. Artists are required to provide a complete verbal description including information about the tactile elements; dimensions and installation considerations; pricing information if applicable; and images for each submission.

“Please Touch the Art” is funded in part by Sasaki and Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About Mass Humanities:

Mass Humanities conducts and supports programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Foundation for Humanities and Public Policy, now simply known as Mass Humanities, was established in 1974 as the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and is an independent programming and grant-making organization that receives support from the NEH and the Massachusetts Cultural Council as well as private sources.

The places in which we live our lives are more than physical spaces; they are the context and the content of our experience. Today, simultaneous revolutions of mobility, connectivity, and identity are changing our experience of the world and, along with it, our relationship to place. Now, more than ever before, what we create will shape the way we live.

At Sasaki, we harness this power to make human hopes and dreams into proven physical realities. This has been our core tenet since day one, and now, as the world changes faster than ever, we advance our shared potential through the built environment. In every project, new possibility is translated into new action.

We think beyond the building, beyond the site, beyond the grid, to design for people and for society. We are at once realistic, holistic, and optimistic. We create places that prove human potential.